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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Irritating Others
nicoleharris 10:50 AM 06-10-2020
Hello all! I haven’t made a post on here in a while but I’m often lurking through the forums for advice and I’m in need of some! I’m a lead teacher in the 2-3 year old room at a center. I generally have 15 kids in my class, 13 of them are boys, 3 are girls. It’s usually just me and one other teacher and as you can imagine it gets hectic, especially considering the group of boys I have now are 100% energy and do not get along, at all. Their biggest problem is friends who try to push buttons, knocking down block towers of classmates, following classmates through the room when asked to give them space, kicking during circle time, poking each other with forks during lunch. Asking nicely to stop and that their friends don’t like it usually just either gets a laugh and continues or encourages the rest of the class to do it too. Ignoring it usually results in the bullied child losing their mind and snapping (which I don't blame them honestly). Separation works for a while but with such a crowded classroom it’s not long before someone else is irritating them and I end up spending the whole day playing referee! I’m trying to teach them to respect personal space and when friends ask them to stop a behavior to be respectful, any advice on how I could get through to them on this?
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Unregistered 10:12 AM 06-11-2020
This was an issue at my center at one time. The solution was to open another 2-3 year old room. The less kids in one room gave them plenty of space to play. I don’t know if that would work in your center. What does your director tell you to do?
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CeriBear 06:07 AM 06-13-2020
I have the same problem with my 3-4 year old class. I have mostly boys and about four of them are loud, extremely active, and tend to play rough and aggressive. I’ve found that separating them into groups works and seating them at different tables at meals and snacks. Since they always like to play together I let them know that if things get out of hand with noise and roughness that I will move them to separate centers or have them each take a tub of toys and play alone. As for the noise I try to keep an open mind. If they are playing nice but simply getting a bit loud I say something like “you all are playing so nice and I love it that your having fun but you are hurting Ms. Ceri’s ears.Can you take your voices down to level 2 please ( we have a voice level chart on the wall).
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flying_babyb 01:09 PM 06-14-2020
I have 3 boys, they are besties most of the time and insist on messing with each other other times. If i can find a way to keep them apart, they do great, otherwise they start stuff. Ive gotten to the point where they get to start the day togehter, If they turn into turds, i seprate and assign them a area to play in. If they leave that area and wander to there freind, they go to the table with puzzles. They also have assigned spots at lunch. We have a long table so one at each end and one in the middle. On a good day we have 11-13 2-3 year olds (though at this rate, were gonna have 4 year olds, they cant move till they potty train and two of mine refuse to learn)
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littlefriends 06:01 AM 06-15-2020
I have several 3 to almost 5 year olds right now that I'm dealing with like that too. I don't usually keep kiddos once they are old enough for kindergarten for reasons like this! What's working for me is to give them a reminder first "Petey remember people don't like (whatever annoying thing they're doing) and you are going to have to be alone if you don't stop" and then if the kiddo keeps on being obnoxious or whatever he's doing I tell him "okay, you must not be able to play with anyone today so you need to play alone" and he has to go to the table alone. I have an area where they have things to do so they aren't in time out or bored but they just don't have access to anybody else. I have one right now that this happens to him probably 10 to 15 times a day!
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Snowmom 06:53 AM 06-15-2020
It is much harder when they are all the same age and temperament. One of the reasons I prefer mixed age groups honestly. They learn empathy and leadership better in mixed age. But I digress.

I can tell you what I do here. It is a different environment though and you may have different requirements in a center setting.

There are two approaches I usually use when one breaks the house rules.
1. Immediately told in my firm, "mom voice" what I want them TO DO. Example: Johnny is touching Evan enough to bug him- "hands off" is directed to Johnny (a little louder than my normal voice). Short, sweet and to the point.
2. 2nd time or a bigger offense: In a little louder mom voice "SIT" is directed to the child and they sit right where they are. It stops everything in the room. The child is then asked if they know why they were told to sit (if age appropriate). If another direction is needed, the child would be separated or lose privileges to toys. I have a specific area that is designated for individual play. It has the "baby toys". If an older child (3+) can't play nicely with others, that's where'd they'd be directed to play for the interim. When I trust they'd play nicely, they can re-join.

Full disclosure: poking with forks wouldn't be tolerated here at all. That's dangerous. The child would be excused from the table because obviously, they are no longer hungry and are a disruption to others. If it continued, the parent would be called. It only takes one poke to the eye to cause serious damage!
That child might not get utensils for a while too. Depends.
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CeriBear 06:17 AM 06-17-2020
Yep. Poking with forks is a big no-no in my classroom. It’s too dangerous. Most other misbehaviors at lunch get a warning before being moved to sit alone but not this one. It only takes one poke in the eye to do some serious injury.
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Tags:2 year old, 3 year old, center based teachers, physical activity, space requirements
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